Etymograph

English

out

Out comes from Middle English out, from a combination of Old English ūt ‘out’ and ūte ‘outside’, both ultimately from PIE *úd ‘upwards, away’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*úd1‘upwards, away’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ūt1‘out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ūt1‘out’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ūt1‘out’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500out1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598out1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English out
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Truth will out.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*údWiktionary, English out‘upwards, away’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*ūtWiktionary, English out‘out’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ūtWiktionary, English out‘out’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ūtWiktionary, English out‘out’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500outWiktionary, English out
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598outWiktionary, English out. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “Truth will out.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *úd ‘upwards, away’

awaken, amaze, uterus, hubris, uterine, aghast, hysteresis, 6 more

through Proto-Germanic *ūt

about

through Proto-West Germanic *ūt ‘out, outward’

outwardly, outwards

through Old English ūt

utter, outward, 2 more

Today it means

adv Away from the inside or centre.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “out”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *úd / out

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